Four weeks and counting.

Welcome back!

I'm going to keep this post a little short this week... well shorter than normal.

I wanted to start off this post by just putting out a big thank you. Thank to Mike, Rob, and the crew from Top Comics for putting on this years Cherry Capital Con. Thanks to all the volunteers for helping to make it run as smooth as possible. The sponsors for helping get the word out and broadcasting from the con all weekend long. Thanks to all the exhibitors and and vendors for displaying fantastic art and wares everyone was able to witness/purchase over the weekend (though I'm not going to thank you for taking my money.) Lastly, thank you to all of the attendees from this past weekend, without you there wouldn't be a C3.

I had a fantastic time at Cherry Capital Con (C3). I got a chance to meet some incredible creators and touch base with many people I haven't seen or talked to since last years con. I had many great conversations with attendees including one who had the wonderful/unfortunate experience of Tony Miello and I recounting Ypsi Ink and Stein where we got on to the topic of Zombie Defecation. It's events like this that give me a chance to talk to people about my work. I really enjoy doing this stuff and I'm happy I can share it with others that may enjoy it as well. Speaking of sharing (well more of exchanging) I sold many prints this weekend to delighted attendees (many who couldn't help but pick up the Betty White vs. Wolverine), quite a few comics, and even managed a commission on Sunday (If I manage to get a copy of that commission I'll post it.)

Enough ranting and raving about C3... onto the art. With all art I post you can click on the image to view a larger version in a new window/tab.

Here's what I promised last week... Batman in color.

I also created a halftone/grayscalimage I wanted to share.

Now I'd like to take a moment to showcase one of my friends Dean Stahl. Dean is an incredible artist and creator who is constantly producing artwork and always impresses me with his new work. Earlier this year Dean started his own wrestling based web comic. You should take a moment to hop on over and check it out. Click on this link: http://www.headlocksandheadaches.com/ to check it out. I'm pretty sure Dean's work will keep you entertained. Dean also is the co-host of the podcast Ultra Friends Go! I just started listening to these and they're pretty darned good, it's a brand new show and has some technical difficulties to start with but they're getting better all the time. You can download it from Itunes or their website: http://ultrafriendsgo.com/.

Well that's it for this week (I guess it really wasn't that short,) be sure to tune in next week when I display the reason why you don't see many wookie jedi knights.

-Jacot

CHERRY CAPITAL CON and STUFF

This year I will once again be attending the Cherry Capital Con (C3 for short). It's taking place this weekend June 12-13 at The Grand Traverse Resort in beautiful Traverse City, MI.

Here's a little blurb from the C3 website to set the tone for the show: "Cherry Capital Con (C3) is a comic book convention that celebrates the medium of comics, rather than a specific genre. At C3, all comics are equal; as are their creators and their fans. The organizers of C3 intend to prove to the world that comic conventions—just like comics fans and the comics, themselves—don’t have to be “this” or “that”. They can just be what they are…which is simply “cool”."

This is the second year of the show and if it is anything like last year the show is going to be amazing. It was one of the best shows I attended last year. The promotional material and coverage was absolutely amazing. This year appears to be even better with over three times the exhibitors. If you're in the area or willing to make a little road trip it'll be worth it. Of course it doesn't hurt that if you do come out you'll be in Traverse City, during the summer, looking out on lake Michigan... but who would want that? For more information about the Cherry Capital Con go to their website www.cherrycapitalcon.com or click on the banner to the upper left.

Speaking of C3 here's the new poster I'm working on for debut at the show.

I have been playing around for a while with this image concept and decided it was time to just get it out of the way. The piece will be in full color and I'll post the finished piece next week.

This past March I helped organize the third annual Michigan State University Comics Forum. We had twenty-six Michigan based comic related creators in this years artist alley. This included the amazing Guy Davis. Guy is an amazing comics creator some of his past work includes Bakerstreet, Sandman Mystery Theater, The Nevermen, B.P.R.D., and The Marquis. For more info on Guy Davis take a moment to enjoy his website www.guydavisartworks.com. Guy Davis was kind enough to be this years keynote speaker for the MSU Comics Forum. He did a fantastic job on the keynote and I wanted to give him a special "thank you" gift. Here's a piece I did of his character The Marquis.

I'm finishing up this image digitally with some tones. Once that's done I'll post it here. If you want to see how the MSU Comics Forum went then scoot on over to the following live blog - http://ievolvedintothis.com/?p=93.

That's about all at this point in time. I'll be back next week... same blog time... same blog channel.

-Jay Jacot

On Schedule... WOO HOO!!!

Well this is the first post of the regularly scheduled programming on Tuesday nights, as promised.

I was trying to think of something good to go over, something… useful. Something that people could learn from. Now, as I was thinking about this I began to realize a lot of the stuff has already been covered by one of my good friends, Ryan Claytor. So I thought I would take a moment to pimp out his website http://www.elephanteater.com/... (insert shameless plug here, well maybe just the image from his new bookmark. Click on the image to open his website in a new window.)

At his website you will find his weekly postings, musings, and his shop for comics/merchandise. He just finished posting "And then one day #8" (his most recent issue, to be printed soon), be sure to check out all the instollments of "And Then One Day", they're worth the read. Ryan (at the time of this post) is mainly an auto-biographical comics creator. He's used his series "And Then One Day" to push the boundaries and provoke thoughts on the concept of Auto-Biographies and the comics medium. He currently teaches Comic Studio courses at Michigan State University and University of Michigan - Flint. Be sure to take a moment to check out his resources page it includes one of my favorite topics - Small Press Professionalism.

Now this doesn't mean I won't be posting my own musings and information on the Comics medium. There’s plenty of time for me to write about that in the future.

I previously mentioned information on some of the projects that I’ve been working on and I thought I would share an image or two of the concept work.

First off… Space Teddy Roosevelt. This concept came from an old high school friend, Benjamin M. Sidou. Just the thought of a real life over-the-top character, such as Teddy Roosevelt, going on a space safari made me smile. The classic image of Teddy’s toothy grin framed inside a space helmet was too much to take. I started sketching some Ideas and this was actually the first piece I produced. I’ve cleaned it up a bit from my initial rough and am currently designing a mock cover to set the tone and direction for the project. I’ll post the final cover concept in a future post.


Now here's a little something from a great monthly gathering, Ypsi Ink & Stein. This is a monthly gathering of creator's and friends to have a good time and produce work in a highly creative environment. I was lucky enough to be able to attend this past month's Ink & Stein (it was moved to the same weekend as the Motor City Comic Con.) Once everyone settled in it didn't take long for the conversation to take a turn to the lower end of the comedy spectrum (pun intended, what do you expect after a long day at a convention?.) Of course this could have been due to the amazing company of Jay Fosgitt, Ryan Estrada, Adam Talley, Tony Miello, and Brett Pinson. With a line-up like that you can only guess what came next.

The subject: Zombies
The question: "Do Zombies Defecate?"

The debate started... Hilarity ensued... and here's what I threw into the "pot" of creativity.


Well that's about the end of this weeks segment.

Looking forward to seeing everyone next Tuesday night.

-Jacot

Time to dust off the blog.

Well now... It's been a little bit since I've made a post. I figured it's about time to come back and dust off the old blog. I've really missed it and apologize emphatically for my laziness. A lot has been happening in the time I've been away.

- I've finally started working on the relaunch of Comics Obscura (something I need to do to keep the dream alive.) It should be launched by the end of the year with the first issue hopefully in early 2011. I'm going to build a solid base that the idea can flourish on. Over this past winter I finally started to deal with some issues (brought on by the Comics Obscura debacle from last June) that I didn't realize I had. It was part of the reason I disappeared from this blog for so long.

-The Tao of Snarky has gone back to the Drawing board for some reworking on the script and story to provide the best story possible, after working for so long with page restrictions we got into a compressed storytelling mode. It kinda felt like the story was being vomited onto the page when we started doing more than six pages at a time. It's all for the better trust me. I'll post more info as we work it out.

- I've started work on a story by Jeremy Dunckel titled: A Throne of Refuse. It's a dark psychological trip that Is a solid story. This is going to be the next sequential work I'll be publishing.

- Kurt Spatrisano is currently working on a script based on one of my story concepts. It's the tale of a soldier dealing with his emotions that plays of the concept "We never give children enough credit for what they can understand." I've been mulling this over for a while, earlier this year Kurt and i were sitting down and I brought it up, Kurt made some good comment about it and I asked if he would write it. I can't wait to get started on it.

- I've made a decision about my blog-posting irregularities. The blog will be updated every Tuesday night by 9:00pm (est) with a new post and new art. I figure this way I can devote some time to making your visit here as entertaining and enjoyable as possible (basically not leave a hastily scrawled post)

Now I have something to share. right before Motor City Comic Con I threw up a question on my Facebook requesting ideas to draw for a new print. There were many great ideas, one of my favorites being Space Teddy Roosevelt (project in the works, probably a web-comic,) but then something magical happened... Joe Foo made a statement "Betty White vs, Wolverine"... needless to say pencils and inks were done the next night and colors were finished the night after.

So without further ado... Betty White vs. Wolverine

I look forward to seeing everyone here every Tuesday night.

Thanks for joining me and entertaining my prattle.

-Jay Jacot

COMICS REVIEWED BY TONY ISABELLA

Just quick little post...

I dropped of copies of The Chase: A Twist of Fate and the Tao of Snarky compilation to Tony Isabella while at Mid-Ohio Con. For those of you who don't know who Tony is or have never heard of him he's a fantastic guy who has put out some great work in his 31 year career in the Comics field and is rigorously reviewing new comics all the time.

To find out what he thought just click on the link at the bottom of this post.

While your at it check out Max Ink's website and Tony's review of Max's fine comic BLINK (shown to the right you can click through the image as well to go to Max's website).

The best part is that if you want to see some of Max's work in print he'll send you a free mini comic.

But, be warned... Blink is like a drug, once you get a taste you're going to want more... luckily Max provides. Damn the pusher man... and thank him all at the same time...

You'll also find a review of the :01 (First Second) crew's STUFFED!, this is a book I can't wait to read and just need to find the time to get down to my local shop and snag a copy.

http://www.worldfamouscomics.com/tony/back20091019.shtml

-Jacot

MID-OHIO CON follow-up

It's been two weeks since MOC (Mid-Ohio Con) and I'm just getting to the update, where does the time go?

Anywho...

First off big thanks to the Lansing Road Crew for MOC. They consisted of Rob Forest, Ryan Claytor, Dean Stahl, and Jonathan D Gordon. Getting there was easy... Getting Back... not so much. That's a story for another time though.

Let's start off info about the show with a huge "Thanks" and "Great getting to know you" To Justin Casteneda and The crew from Mutant Cactus.

Justin has put out two books so far When I Was Little... and When I was Little Too. These are great reads and take you back a step or two the Art is great and corresponds really well with the statements about when Justin was little. Be sure to to check out his blog (http://justincastaneda.blogspot.com) and his book's blog (http://wheniwaslittlebook.blogspot.com) for more information on his work.

The Mutant cactus crew came prepared with their slew of awesome buttons. They also brought another product to the plate... a comic called TALES OF AWESOME (Story by Derek Watson, Art by Robert Gant, and Lettering by Danny Cooper.) For the first book put out by the crew I commend them they did a fantastic job. The story is about a distopian future where Robots are built and programed to help clean up the mess humans have created. You can only see how well this could turn out right? Well check out the Mutant Cactus site (http://mutantcactusblogs.blogspot.com) for more info and snag a copy of ToA and some buttons while you're at it.

Speaking of Mutant Cactus while standing around peddling my wares Robert Gant took an opportunity to draw me as a zombie.

I think he captured the essence of my undead self.

I'll be coloring this piece soon and starting to use it as an Avatar on Facebook and maybe here as well. Especially with Halloween coming soon I think it's only the proper thing to do.

Below is also some commissions and sketches that I did over the weekend First of was a penciled Green Arrow, it was the first of the day and I was a little uncomfortable starting to work with it but in the end I'm happy with how it turned out.

Next up was a sketch of Hellboy. Now, I love drawing Hellboy but when it was requested to draw Hellboy drinking from a small Teacup, I was floored... I just love this image. It was done for John Scrudder who is associated with the project Cerebus TV, be sure to stop over and check out what's going on with our favorite Aardvark. (http://www.cerebustv.com)

Lastly was a commission I got before the doors even opened Saturday morning. It was requested for me to draw Batgirl from the TV show being attacked by an octopus underwater getting her Scuba Gear and utility belt taken off by the eight armed culprit.

I loved this challenge I completed the commission late Saturday in the lobby of our hotel while the rest of the MOC road crew was crashed out.

Good event, good friends, fantastic weekend...

I'm lookin' forward o next year.

-Jacot

MID-OHIO CON

I'll be tabling at Mid-Ohio Con this weekend, if you're in the area or feel like making a trek stop on out and have some fun. You'll be able to find me in the Creator's Commons at table cc19 (http://www.bankstreet.com/mocfiles/moc_2009_floorplan.pdf)

New art Coming soon. I'm still doing some (and redoing) work I can't release yet.

-Jacot

Sesquicentennial Celebration of Lansing’s Old Town

So last week I was tapped to do a poster for the upcomming Sesquicentennial Celebration of Lansing’s Old Town in Lansing, MI. Here's what I put together.

If you're around the Lansing area feel free to head on down to old town and partake in what old town has to offer, here's the text from the press release.

Sesquicentennial Celebration of Lansing’s Old Town All Events Are Free and Open to the Public

Saturday, Sept. 19: "The Lansing Sound: What Is It, Where Is It Headed?" With David Stowe, Rodney Whitaker, Larry Cosentino, and Mike Stratton, 1-3 pm, Perspective2.

Sunday, Sept. 20: A Program in Honor of Robert Busby. With the MSU Jazz Professors, 2:30-4:30pm, Creole Gallery.

Wednesday, Sept. 23: Found in Translation: Poetry from around the World. With Ruelaine Stokes. 7:30-9pm, Creole Gallery.

Thursday, Sept. 24: Premiere of the Specters of Lansing. A documentary by MSU faculty and students. 7:30-9pm, Studio 1210.

Friday, Sept. 25-Saturday, Sept. 26: UAW Art and History Exhibit. 10am-4pm, Studio 1210.

Friday, Sept. 25: Schooling: Tejano Style. With Rene' Meave of Los Bandits of Michigan and Juve Aldaco of El Grupo Aldaco. Reception to follow. 8-11 pm, Perspective2.

Saturday, Sept. 26: "Voices of Old Town: Variations on a History." A play by MSU faculty and students based on oral histories, 8-10 pm, Perspective2.

Sunday, Sept: 27: Architectural Tour, 2-4pm, MessageMakers.

Sponsored by the Program in American Studies, the Public Humanities Collaborative, Chicano/Latino Studies, and the Department of Theater at Michigan State University; the Old Town Business & Art Development Association; and the Old Town Commercial Association.

With generous support from the College of Arts and Letters at Michigan State University and the American Studies Association.

-Jacot

Lady Lindsay's Super Amigurumi

So one day my buddy Jon Gordon's wife sent me a pic of a Wolverine she crocheted... Here I stood staring at my this image on my phone at this cute Wolverine with Pipe Cleaner claws.

I found this little figure very endearing...

Since then she's created many more Heros and Villains and has her own shop which can be found here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5358237

Be sure to click on over to check out her site. Each of the amigurumi are really well done and come highly recomended as gifts.

I've taken the liberty of posting some pic's from Lady Linsay's storefront... I really like the Daredevil and Bullseye... What can I say I have a little softspot for this hero-villain feud...

-Jacot

E.G.G. Pinup

I guess with a title like that you might need a little more of an explanation.

E.G.G., or Ed G. Gunn, is character created by Rob Forest. He's a Hard Boiled detective that services Stark City as a private investigator.

Rob is putting out a new issue of EGG titled "The Trouble with Dames" with this new publication he asked if anyone would like to do Pinups for the book and to make a long story short here's what I did...

Check out Rob's E.G.G. blog here http://eggnoir.blogspot.com he's got a lot of great stuff on there including his unique style and his noir-ish homages. You should also find another pinup by fellow LADDie Jon Gordon.

-Jacot